Program Mission

The Program in Real Estate and Community Development Law creates innovative research, curricular and experiential offerings, and policy solutions to meet both urban and rural property challenges in the 21st century. As urbanization becomes the dominant world migration pattern over the next 50 years, the law will play a central role in determining how rural areas retain their vitality and sustainability, as well as how urban centers can equitably, efficiently and sustainably accommodate the urban influx. The Program’s mission is to understand the evolving role of law in these developments and to design novel legal strategies to enhance both equity and efficiency in urban and rural redevelopment. The Program is one of the first in an American law school to focus on both urban and rural real estate, housing, land use and community development law challenges.

Annual Real Property Law Schmooze Event

The Real Property Law Schmooze is an annual event which affords property law scholars the opportunity to share works-in-progress or early-stage ideas with other leading property law scholars at Texas A&M University and beyond.

2019 Real Property Law Schmooze

"Where do we go from here? Fair Housing and Community Development at a Crossroads"January 31 - February 2, 2019

In the wake of the 50th Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, and as federal support for fair housing, affordable housing, and community development dwindles, legal experts at the 2019 Schmooze presented papers related to strategies that can help the fair housing and community development fields bridge longstanding conflicts and come together during this critical time.

Vicki L. Been, the Boxer Family Professor of Law at NYU Law School and Former Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development for the City of New York, was the Distinguished Real Property Law Keynote Speaker. Her ​presentation "Inclusive Communities: Learning from its False Premises, Fears, and Framing Choices, through the Lens of Gentrification" was open to the entire law school, as part of the Faculty Speaker Series.

2018 Real Property Law Schmooze

At the 2018 Schmooze, 17 invited legal scholars presented on the theme of how law can help resolve urban and rural challenges and bridge the urban versus rural divide.

Professor Joseph William Singer, the Bussey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, ​was the Distinguished Real Property Law Keynote Speaker. His talk ​was open to the entire law school, as part of the Faculty Speaker Series.

Inaugural Schmooze

The 2017 Schmooze featured the work of 22 legal scholars from southern law schools in the United States. Professor Lee Anne Fennell from the University of Chicago Law School ​gave the keynote ​presentation "Searching for Fair Housing."